A convenient, simple way for advertisers to add (or remove) themselves from your site, can be done through the use of a PayPal Subscription Form. This will allow you to accept advertising subscriptions and recurring payments on your website through a customized payment button. It’s safe for both publishers and advertisers, as either has the option of dropping the subscription at any time, and it allows systematic payments without the need for recurring billing.

When creating a subscription advertising package, you will want to include some detailed information about your advertising opportunities and some site demographic information. Take care not to mention the terms ‘text link’, ‘SEO’ and ‘PageRank’ on your advertising page.

For Example:

Benefits include:

Cost: Only $XX a month.
You may cancel at any time. Please allow up to X business days for your ad to appear.
NOTE: Only advertisers related to ___ are allowed. All advertisers are subject to approval.

Under this, you would put your Paypal subscription form with a field for the ad information, which might include the link, the keyword phrase, the banner graphic location, ect.

To create a subscription form, go to Paypal > Merchant Services > Subscribe (Under Merchant Buttons)

Under the Subscriptions & Recurring Payments page, you will create your subscription form. We recommend creating a three day trial period. That way, if it takes a few days for you get the ad on the site, the advertiser is not charged. It also provides you a time window to reject any inappropriate advertisers before they are charged. You will then want to add options to create additional information fields related to the ad (link, link phrase, etc.)

You should also include information that lets advertisers easily stop their campaign when they choose to do so.

How do I cancel my sponsorship?

1. Login to your PayPal account
2. Click on the My Account tab
3. Click on the History sub tab
4. Click on the Status of the subscription in question (you may use the History search features to locate your transaction)
5. Click Cancel Subscription
6. You have successfully canceled your subscription

When an advertiser does cancel their advertising, it’s a good idea to follow up with why and let them know that you will be pulling their ad at the end of the subscription period.

With a little setup work to start, you can easily manage many advertisers.

When creating an advertising mix for your website, consider your potential advertisers and your audience. Too many ads can turn off your audience and your advertisers. (After all, who wants to pay $X/month to compete with fifty other button ads?) There are many types of direct advertising that you can offer, and it often takes some trial and error to find the right mix of advertising.

Below are the most common website sponsorship methods:

Banner/Button Positions: What’s old is new again. They offer color and sometimes animation. For best results, choose standard ad sizes.

Text Links: These can be static links. Sometimes they may have a sentence or two about the advertiser under them. Paid text links have come under scrutiny lately, but they still remain popular, and SEOs are still buying them. They key is to be smart with them. Contextual linking falls under this category.

Pop-ups/Pop-Unders: Intrusive and annoying, but they do tend to have a higher click-through rate than banners. (Or is that just people accidentally clicking on the ad when they are actually trying to close them.) Many users have blockers that keep standard popups from appearing.

Content Sponsorship: Advertisers have limited control and submit their own content to the publisher, as well as having their ad on the page. These sponsorships tend to be for fixed periods, and the content should be targeted to the publisher’s audience.

Interstitials: Sometimes referred to as Bridge Ads, interstitials appear as you move between pages on a site. Click-throughs are generally greater than from banner adverts or traditional pop-up ads.

Email Newsletters: An advertiser is prominently displayed at the header and/or footer of a regular email newsletter. The ad can be text-based or graphical in nature.

Text Content Links: A keyword phrase embedded within the content of a web page is linked to the advertiser’s web site. Bloggers are sometimes paid to specifically link content. Like text links, this type of advertising has also come under scrutiny.

Are we missing any direct ad types here?

Why would anyone want to advertise on your website?

If you can’t easily answer that question, then you aren’t ready to sell advertising on it.

There are no set qualifications for selling ads on your site. Generally, if your website has a decent PageRank (4 or better, at least), has been in existence for a few years, and ranks well for specific keyword terms, then your site is probably attractive to advertisers.

Unfortunately, many advertising buyers place too much importance on PageRank. Even if you do not have a very high PR website, your advertising offerings can more than make up for it. Contextual links, fixed banners, ect., can be far more useful to an advertiser than a tiny footer link.

Consider what ad opportunities you will provide. The most common include:

Additional Tips:

Create a rate sheet for prospective advertisers that state what opportunities are available. Be sure to know your website stats (visitors, page views, ect) and have that information available.

When selling banner or button ads, make sure you specify you use standard ad sizes.

Even if your site does not have a large number of visitors, your rankings and niche may make the site an excellent candidate for direct linking.

Selling TOO much advertising on your site can be detrimental to your advertisers, and even your own website rankings. Moderation is key, and every site is different. Try several types of advertising over time, and discover what works best for you!

See also: Refusing An Online Advertising Opportunity